


The Mortal Enemy

by SpanditaSahoo



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Beware, Clary and Alec friendship, F/M, Heavy Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I have an idea but I have zero follow through, I'm Sorry, M/M, Pre Season 3, canon compliant with the show, clary and Magnus friendship, graphic content, haven't read the books, help me, lots of pain, secrecy, serious warnings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 12:56:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13881321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpanditaSahoo/pseuds/SpanditaSahoo
Summary: Clary and Jace along with the rest of their friends and family take on new threats that threaten the very foundation of their world.





	The Mortal Enemy

Clary observed herself in the mirror. It was late, almost midnight and most of the Institute was empty save for a few Shadowhunters. Even Alec and Izzy were away for the weekend meaning that the residential wing was quiet and unoccupied. Clary wasn't sure she recognized the girl staring back at her from the mirror. Was it really only a few months ago that she had been fretting so much about her application to the Brooklyn Academy of Art? That girl never could have imagined her here in this building, the runes decorating her body declaring her true identity as a Nephilim. Sometimes, it still felt like a strange dream. She noticed that her silhouette had changed. Gone was the softness of her slender frame, her body had begun to display faint scarring, new lines of muscle and a stronger stance. Strange as her world was, she finally felt like she belonged. 

Jace emerged from the bathroom then, his long hair wet and ruffled. He walked towards Clary and circled his arms around her waist, laying a small kiss on her neck. He smiled up at her through the mirror, trying to look reassuring but he was still shaken up over the whole coming back to life part. Clary turned to him and placed her hands on his face as she kissed him softly. She had made this choice for him, damn the consequences, because she couldn't stand to lose him. Not him, not Jace. Not the boy who bumped into her in front of that club, the boy who saved her again and again and again, not just from demons and Downworlder threats and Valentine at the cost of his own life, but also from herself. The boy who had wholeheartedly thrown in his lot with her, taken her in when she had lost everything - held her when she lost her mother, her friends and had asked nothing in return. Not this boy who she loved with a passion that consumed her whole, who loved her back. She had made this choice for him, inflicted that worry and fear and she was going to be there for him every step of the way. 

They made their way to bed that night without too many words. Everything was too raw, too sudden, too still. Valentine was dead, yes. But the threat hadn't left the atmosphere. They would have to learn how to live without a war. Clary fell into a fitful that night, waking up every few hours, restless and anxious. She finally curled into Jace's sleeping form and slept through the rest of the night.

The morning bore no signs of a battle, but a quiet victory played around Jace's lips. They had gotten through the first day. Clary dragged him out to a small bistro around the corner for a big brunch. They talked about things they had never even discussed about. How Jace composed theatric piano pieces that he played every time Max entered his room so that he could feel like a Bond villain. How Clary had once managed to con her way into an 18+ concert when she was only fifteen. How Jace had broken both of his arms at the same time but still won all his matches in training. How Clary had spent a summer interning with a photographer. They walked across the city doing nothing at all and somehow so much was happening. Clary had a love affair with green apples which of course was the only thing Jace was allergic to. Jace loved white flowers while Clary didn't really care for them at all. They learnt pieces if each other, underneath familiar building in a familiar city that was brand new. 

They held on to the lightness of the day, laughing hard at everything hoping with all of their might that this might finally last. They weren't fools, the two of them but they did hope, all the same. The day passed by quickly. They picked up pizza for dinner and ate it over the pier watching the city lights drown out the stars by their brilliance. Jace put his arms around Clary and pulled her closer into him. He couldn't take his eyes off her, not her. Not when she was so spellbound by the world. Not when she looked up at him, through her eyelashes - playful but challenging. Fierce. Clary was something else. Something wild. And nothing in that moment could have moved them from where they were, all tied up in each other.

But the universe was rarely so kind and of course trouble happened. It always did, that singular constant. They would keep that day for themselves though, a shining memory of what could have been if only they were born to different destinies.


End file.
